


Is Polyamory a Myth or Am I Really Messing Up

by Alphawulf



Series: There's Just Unity [2]
Category: Code Lyoko
Genre: (kids realizing that they aint straight), (not yet a complete ot5... but were gettin Close), Crushes, Drama, Friendship, Gay Panic, Heteronormativity, Multi, OT5, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Romance, Self-Worth Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-05-25 05:27:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14970059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alphawulf/pseuds/Alphawulf
Summary: “And- and I understood what I was feeling wasn't friendship, not completely. I realized that I- I love you all. Romantically, as well as in a friendly sense. I've been trying to figure out how to bring it up - what to even do about such feelings. And after some research, I thought,  well, why couldn't I just. Just love you all?”





	1. There's so Much I Want to Say That I Don't Even Understand

**Author's Note:**

> Hooo boy let's see if I'll be able to do this. Chaptered works are the bane of my existence, it feels like I never finish them. But man, this fandom needs more of these good kids caring for each other.
> 
>  
> 
> [Here's where the title's from](https://soundcloud.com/lauren-adams/no-tomorrow)
> 
> Hopefully I'll be able to finish this in a reasonable amount of time (or at all e-e)

She sits on the bench, a warm smile gracing her face as she watches her friends.

Yumi laughs at something Ulrich said, Odd slings an arm around Jeremie as he snarks back, Ulrich carelessly ruffles Odds hair, making him yelp and attempt to put it all back in place.

Aelita giggles at their antics, the corners of her lips lifting up more, eyes wrinkling with joy. Jeremie glances over to her at that, and she closes her eyes, like a cat might, showing her utter contentedness at the current situation.

When her eyes open, Jeremie is looking back at his notes - ideas for another robot. Odd has stood up, hiding behind Yumi so as to dodge another assault from Ulrich. Yumi is just laughing, one hand over her mouth, the other clutching her stomach.

Ulrich vaults over the bench and suddenly the two of them are off, running down past the lunchroom and out of sight.

Aelita makes eye contact with Yumi, and Jeremie belatedly lifts his head to follow the commotion before meeting the girls’ eyes.

They all share a chuckle, Aelita standing from her lone seat at her bench and taking Odd and Ulrich’s spots between her two remaining friends.

“Maybe now I can concentrate,” Jeremie jokes, starting to write down the skeleton of a code before scratching out a few lines and trying again.

“If you really wanted to concentrate, you'd have locked yourself in your room!” Yumi grins, and Jeremie rolls his eyes playfully.

“It would be a shame to be inside on such a nice day.” He counters.

“Oh, since when has a nice day kept you from your desktop?” Aelita joins in.

Jeremie rubs at his cheeks. “Jeeze, it’s almost like you _want_ me to be inside.”

“Aww, c’mon Einstein, we're just teasing you.” Yumi reaches past Aelita’s shoulders to pat one of Jeremie’s.

Aelita feels her face heat up as she lightly bites the inside of her cheek to keep her smile _reasonable._

Yumi leaves her arm where it is, and Aelita feels the need to better her posture, but if she adjusts herself, Yumi may take that as a cue to move.

“Yeah, we’re glad you could spend some time out with us, especially since you're still only in the planning phase,” Aelita motions to the paper in Jeremie’s lap.

“I know!” Jeremie says, exasperated. “I should already be assembling it, I bet Herve already has his moving around!”

It's Aelita’s turn to roll her eyes. “The competition isn't for another two months. There's no way he has a robot yet, and if he does it couldn't do what it needs to. Besides, you're taking the slow and steady path to make sure your robot can kick Herve’s robot’s butt!”

That earns a chuckle from Jeremie. “Thanks Aelita, you always know how to cheer me up.”

She reaches over and pats his hand, the one resting on the bench between them. She can see his blush before he turns his head to hide it, and she pretends she doesn't realize she leaves her hand on his.

There's the sound of a pair of rapid footfalls, getting louder by the second, and soon Aelita sees Odd make a leap at the side of the administration building, shoes attempting to find purchase as he tries to get up to a window.

“Odd, what the hell?” Ulrich yells, followed by a breathless laugh.

“You're gonna touch my hair again!” he calls as he hangs from a sill, off the side of the building, holding on by six fingers, attempting to get a little higher, “If I'm up here, then you can't!”

“Odd, get down before you injure yourself,” Aelita calls, amusement mixing with worry.

“Never! I _live_ here now!”

“Oh sweet, I get the dorm to myself then!” Ulrich stretches, arms over his head in a victory pose. “Does that mean all your stuff is mine now?”

Odd lets out an undignified noise as his grip slips, luckily able to catch himself in a low crouch before he can concuss himself. “I take it back. I don’t live here, so you can't have my things.” Odd pushes himself up, crossing his arms and maturely sticking his tongue out at Ulrich.

Ulrich walks over during Odd’s moment of distraction and ruffles his hair, and Odd is so taken aback that he freezes for a few seconds - Aelita’s not sure if he's about to go off with even more energy, or just resign himself.

He goes for something in the middle, making a show of shoving Ulrich’s hand away and agonizing over his ruined hair.

Ulrich starts to walk back towards the other three when he realizes his spot has been taken, Odd coming to the same realization ten seconds later when he, too, turns back to the group.

“Aelita, can you scootch over a bit? I'm _tired_ after the King of Sulk chased me around.”

“What? King of Sulk? I- Aelita, don't you dare make room for him! Let _me-_ ”

“Get it? _King_ of Sulk, since you're always sul _king_?” The whole group seems to groan at that.

Ulrich feigns a jab in Odd's direction, who simply jumps back, nimble. “You'll have to try harder than that to catch me off guard!”

“Guys, _please_ ,” Yumi says, and Ulrich at least seems to deflate a little. Odd makes a face at his back, but with a glare from Yumi he, too, calms down.

“We're still not all gonna fit on the bench,” Odd mutters helpfully.

 

 

Jeremie rubs at his eyes, glasses pushed up his face as he does.

“Why doesn't this _work,_ ” he mutters, and she looks up from her laptop. He lets out an annoyed huff, leaning into his screen closer, scanning his code for something off.

Before he can get past the point of no return, too frustrated at the program and himself to really continue in a productive manner, he reaches into a drawer and pulls out a rubber duck, placing it next to his monitor.

“Okay, so, these few lines initialize the subclasses I need, and after that I establish a connection between the robot and its controller, of course connecting the pins to each other in a reasonable manner. Down here, these booleans are for keeping track of the outputs of these functions called _here_ , which I'm _sure_ work…” She tunes him out and goes back to her own work.

He may have forgotten she is even there - _she's_ usually his rubber duck, since she can actually help with suggesting changes to the code instead of just sitting there, silent.

But maybe he just doesn't want help, wanting his robot to be solely his. Which is fair - Herve would most likely complain if Jeremie had help.

“Aha!” She smiles at the exclamation, as Jeremie throws his hands into the air. He immediately deletes part of a line and rewrites it, and tries to compile his code.

No errors appear, and he pats the duck in appreciation.

“Okay, that's the basic movement program down…” and he opens up a new file, starting another code.

There's a knock at the door, and before Jeremie can respond the door is opening and in steps Odd, followed by Ulrich.

“We thought we'd find you here! C'mon, dinner’s being served-” Odd seems to realize Jeremie isn't alone and he turns to Aelita, “-and you have a hostage!” Ulrich shakes his head bemusedly at that.

“But I'm in the middle of-” Jeremie starts, before Ulrich interrupts him.

“You're _always_ in the middle of _something._ Let's go.” He walks up to Jeremie and nearly pulls him out of his chair, startling Jeremie.

“You too, princess,” Ulrich says, as he helps Jeremie get his footing before letting him go, holding out a hand to her.

She feels her heart flutter just a bit as she closes her laptop, leaving it on Jeremie's bed as she takes Ulrich’s offer to help her up, even though they both know it isn't needed.

Jeremie is grumbling a little, adjusting his glasses as he leaves his room, followed by Odd, Aelita, and finally Ulrich, who closes the door behind him.

“It's meatballs and mashed potatoes today!” Odd says, having pushed ahead to the front of the group so he can walk backwards, facing them all. There's a spring in his step, and Aelita wonders how long it'll take for him to stumble.

“How much extra food will you try to get from Rosa today?” Aelita asks, a smug look on her face.

“As much as she'll give me!” Odd exclaims, throwing his arms out to the sides and nearly smacking a fellow student on his way back to his room.

Odd ignores the glare he receives, stubbornly still walking backwards.

“And what if that amount is ‘none’?” Ulrich asks with a smirk.

“Then that's just cruel! She would knowingly let a student of this _great_ institution _starve_.” He clutches his stomach, as if he's already dying of hunger.

The rest of them laugh at his dramatics, the laughter escalating as Odd’s shoe catches on an uneven section of floor and he stumbles - luckily able to keep himself upright.

“Hey! That's not funny!” Yet their laughter continues.

 

 

They're one of the first groups to arrive for dinner, a few scattered students already sitting with their trays.

Odd races ahead to sweet talk Rosa into doubling his portion. The rest of them follow at a reasonable pace, grabbing the plate that looks the most appetizing out of the many similar plates.

When they get to where Rosa is, she smiles, remarks “That Odd,” then offers them the choices for the main dish - of which they all choose the meatballs.

Odd has already claimed a table, shovelling his food down his throat like there's no tomorrow.

Ulrich bravely takes the seat next to him, while Jeremie and Aelita sit across from them. Well, maybe the act isn't _that_ brave - Ulrich is now the only one who doesn't have to watch as Odd demolishes his food.

Aelita, sitting directly across from the food tragedy, turns her face so Odd is only in her peripheries, Ulrich and Jeremie gaining her attention.

It may be more disconcerting to see the mess though the blur of the edge of her vision, but it's better than knowing the details.

At some point during the conversation, Odd cuts in - with a mouthful of food he only swallows halfway through - animatedly providing his own thoughts.

With a flick of his wrist, the last half of his croissant slips through his fingers and sails across the table to land directly in Aelita’s mashed potatoes. The impact kicks up the potatoes, and Aelita has no time to even react before she's hit by her own food, feeling both too warm and too cold against her skin, as well as being downright uncomfortable on her clothes.

She wipes some off her nose, turning to Odd with a ‘hey, watch it!’, glaring at his guilty face as he tries to school it into something more apologetic.

“Sorry,” is all he offers, a sheepish smile on his face, and she rolls her eyes with an indignant huff, doing her best to clean off her clothes. She doesn't _want_ to have to change, but it's looking like she might have to.

Odd reaches across the table to grab his croissant, taking some potato with him as it sticks to the bread. When he does, he glances up at her, catching her eye.

“Oh, wait, you missed a spot,” he says and, with no further warning, reaches his free hand out and wipes a smudge of food from Aelita’s cheek.

The touch is soft and Aelita freezes for a moment before autopilot takes over - she hopes her reddened face will be mistaken for anger, or annoyance.

Odd pops the finger into his mouth, with some comment about ‘not letting food go to waste,’ and it's honestly kind of disgusting, but it's _Odd_ so she should have expected it.

She sees Jeremie sitting stiller than usual, giving Odd a look somewhere between suspicious and annoyed.

She shakes her hand and waves her hand. “Accidents happen, it's alright. Just be a bit more careful, Odd,” she scolds and goes back to eating, encouraging the conversation onto its previous track to get the table to calm.

Jeremie is still unusually subdued, eyes on Odd whenever he's looking elsewhere, so she tries to get him to talk about his robot - something to get his mind off of what's bothering him.

It takes a few tries, but eventually he starts telling them about his ideas - this one will have wheels and will be able to curve parts of itself upward to prevent a ball from rolling past - this year's sport to master is football (the _correct_ kind of football, where you only touch the ball with your feet, not the weird not-foot not-ball they play over in America).

Aelita’s the most attentive, being that she actually understands all the words Jeremie says, while the others at least seem they have a vague understanding of what he's describing.

By the time they're putting their trays away and heading back to their dorms, the mood seems to have turned amiable again, which has Aelita smiling fondly at her friends.

Odd parts ways at his and Ulrich’s dorm - to let Kiwi out and exercise him - while the remaining three keep on towards Jeremie’s dorm. Aelita gets back to her laptop, Jeremie to his programming, and Ulrich takes a seat next to Aelita, seemingly content to just sit back and relax for a while.

Aelita accidentally starts a sort of game when she adjusts herself, tapping his left knee with her right. Ulrich slightly raises his leg, and bumps her back, and after that it's war, neither wanting to be the first to quit.

Jeremie, for his part, is so focused on the coding that he doesn't seem to mind the faint noise of this contest.

Ulrich taps her knee twice in quick succession, which she immediately mirrors. The game morphs into a sort of memory pattern puzzle, both of them trying to remember the pattern they're creating while trying to add to it and trip the other up.

_Tap tap. Tap taptap. Taptaptaptap. Tap tata tap tap, tap tap. Tap, pause, tap tap tap, pause, taptap-_

Odd enters the dorm sometime mid-match, probably around the twelfth round - Ulrich was starting to struggle to keep it all memorized, pausing for barely a second before committing to a pattern. Aelita was beginning to have a bit of trouble herself, but she was still having fun. Odd happens to burst in during her turn, breaking her concentration and forcing her to concede to Ulrich, who does a silly little half-bow to her, earning him a laugh and a friendly bow in response.

Odd places Kiwi on the floor as he closes the door, and at the sound of the dog's nails on the floor, Jeremie seems to become aware of his surroundings once again.

“Odd, you'd better keep him from chewing on my things,” he says without even turning around, tapping his keys without actually pressing them while he thinks.

“Don't even worry about it, Einstein!” Odd grins, and even though she can't see Jeremie's face,  she just _knows_ that he's frowning a little, in disbelief.

Kiwi has wandered under the desk, is sniffing at the many cords sprawled along the wall and floor, but Odd’s got an eye on him just in case he decides it's time to start chewing.

Aelita relaxes, like Ulrich, back pressed against the wall, face tilted up to the ceiling, just listening to the sounds of life around her.

Jeremie and his keyboard, his huffs of annoyance, the scratching at his head as he thinks, the squeak of the chair as he shifts. Ulrich’s breathing, his fingers drumming out a pattern on his leg, the feel of his knee pressed against hers. Odd's humming, his shoes rapping against the floor as he swings his legs. Kiwi’s scent-based investigation of all that's around him.

She's filled with such warmth, chest feeling like it will burst from her positive emotions, from her love for these three - and for another who is absent in person, but here in her thoughts.

Her heart feels funny - weak and strong all at once, like it's barely keeping up it's pattern, but making up for that with stronger pulsations that she can feel through nearly her whole body. First her torso, rocked with the initial movement, then her shoulders and neck, with the feeling ghosting through her arms, legs, and head.

She feels like she _has_ to say something. About what's been on her mind for a while now - even though Yumi isn't here. She has a sense of now or never, even though there logically _will_ be a later, and she can feel herself shake just a bit as the words try to form coherent strings in her mind, a little rush of adrenaline for just _thinking_ about telling her friends her peculiar feelings.

“Can-” she starts, but her voice wavers with the building anxiety, hope, fear- “can I say something a bit weird? Or, rather, ask something a bit weird?” She's already stumbling a little over her own thoughts, heart quickening, as if begging her to reconsider. Her emotions say otherwise, urging her onwards.

“A bit weird?” Ulrich comments - she hears him turn his head to look at her, so she keeps her own face away from the others’. If she were to make eye contact with anyone, she's not sure what would happen - she could laugh, cry, freeze up and chicken out.

“What do you mean by weird?” Odd prompts, and she can't be sure but it feels like all eyes are on her.

Jeremie's chair lets out a squeak as it turns. “Ah, well, you know - weird. Abnormal. It's something I've been meaning to ask for a while now.” There, okay, breathe easy. She's gotten herself back on track, for now.

“What is it?” Jeremie asks, and she feels like she's literally going to explode.

So she does, lets words tumble from her mouth like there's no tomorrow, like steam from a heated kettle, air from a punctured balloon, wild animals away from a sudden noise.

“I've been trying to categorize how I feel about everyone,” is how she begins, almost diplomatic, “and I came to a strange realization - I like you all.” Odd makes a noise and she can just _tell_ he's about to interrupt, but if she stops now she doesn't know if she could continue, so she presses on.

“It's strange in the sense that, well, I think I've always felt the same for all of you - and Yumi,” she tacks on, wishing now more than ever that this mood would have struck when they were all here.

Even with her eyes trained on the ceiling, she can tell Jeremie’s stance changes, and her heart aches as she realizes the conclusion he immediately jumped to.

She rushes to clarify, “At first I thought it was normal - you were all my friends, so it must be how friends felt. I loved being around you, talking to you, everything. I loved the nicknames you all called me, loved it when I could hug and hang out and tease you,” she's derailing, so she tries to pull herself back to her point.

“And then I realized that I wanted to kiss all of you.” That's what finally triggers Jeremie to move again, back straightening, more in Aelita’s line of sight. Ulrich stiffens next to her, and there's a loud _thunk_ as Odd’s feet fall gracelessly to the floor.

“And- and I understood what I was feeling wasn't friendship, not completely. I realized that I- I love you all. Romantically, as well as in a friendly sense. I've been trying to figure out how to bring it up - what to even do about such feelings. And after some research, I thought,  well, why couldn't I just. Just love you all?”

She drops her gaze from the ceiling, immediately freezing at the seriousness of the looks around her - mostly confused, surprised, but she can't help but worry at her lip with her teeth as she sees different emotions emerge as the others fade - something akin to _anger_ from Jeremie, maybe something of disgust from Odd.

She can't see Ulrich's face from her current position, really, but he scoots away, the reassuring pressure against her knee disappearing.

“I-if,” she says, lacking all the confidence she had in the beginning, “that is, you were all okay with it.”

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, after all.


	2. But I Just Can't Find the Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for some Teen Drama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting this one now, in hopes it'll motivate me to do more chapters sooner. Shorter chapters mean more/quicker updates, right?

“So wait,” Odd is the first to speak after her monologue, “you want to, what, date us all? That doesn't really work out, trust me.” He's no longer laying on the floor, having pushed himself onto his knees.

“Well,” she says, chest feeling tight in the aftermath of her confession, any trace of the bubbly feeling from before vanished completely, “it didn't seem to work for you because your girlfriends didn't know about each other. But, I figured, if I asked all of you, and you all knew and agreed to it, that it would be okay.” Her voice raises up at the end, her nerves getting to her, making her statement sound more like a question.

“I- _that's_ why you asked Yumi and me that strange question a while back,” Ulrich starts but can't finish.

“What strange question, Ulrich? Has she already proposed this idea to you?” Jeremie’s voice had a dangerous edge to it, and she can't even remember how it felt to feel hopeful that this would work out, even though the feeling had filled her entire being mere moments ago.

“What? No! She asked us about if dating two people at the same time while keeping everyone happy was even possible!"

“Oh, and you didn't find that strange _at all?_ Didn't wonder why she’d asked that?”

“I'm right here, you know,” she jumps in, annoyance rising at the way Jeremie is talking like she's not even there.

He turns from Ulrich to Aelita, and she holds her breath at the- the rage, the betrayal etched into his expression.

Odd starts to get up, collecting Kiwi like he's going to just _leave_ when Jeremie turns to him. “You're not off the hook, either-”

“What did I do?” Odd asks, voice rising, and Aelita feels like she has done something terrible, irreversible.

Something friendship shattering.

“You know exactly what you did!” Jeremie accuses, “You probably confused her after you pulled that dumb stunt to get Herve and Nicholas out of the factory. And you're _always_ trying to date _every girl in our grade_ -”

“Except in our friend group! That's like, an unspoken _rule_!” Odd swings his arm out, head lowered almost like he's expecting Jeremie to lash out.

“ _Is_ it now? Sounds like a flimsy alibi to hide behind-”

“I don't have to stand here and take this!” Odd's voice rings through the room, silencing Jeremie for once. Kiwi has his tail tucked between his legs as Odd storms from the dorm, slamming Jeremie’s door and, moments later, his own dorm door.

The air is still thick with tension - Aelita finds it hard to breathe.

Jeremie turns to Ulrich, who has pushed himself from his bed “You don't even have to tell me. Bye,” and while he doesn't _slam_ the door, he definitely closes it with more force than necessary. She doesn't hear any other doors open or close. There's loud music leaking in from the hall - Odd, probably.

Jeremie deflates, the anger and the fight quickly fading from his person.

“Aelita,” he begins, “I- I thought, we…” _had something,_ she knows he's going to say, but he doesn't. It was never really a _spoken_ thing, they just warmed up to each other more. It's not like she belongs to him - he had no right to yell at the others like she was his.

She stands up, muttering a quick apology, wishes him a good night - as if she hadn't ruined it - and tries to keep her composure as she collects her things, walks to the door, and heads through - as if tonight was the same as any other night.

Her mask breaks a few meters from her own dorm - she runs the rest, quickly gets herself inside, locks the door, and slides down it, tears already on her cheeks.

She feels sick, her stomach churning. That was- why did she even- so _stupid._

There's bad blood between most of her closest friends now, and it's all _her_ fault _._ And it's not like they have some world ending mission to reunite them; they got rid of X.A.N.A. a while back.

She may have just torn her whole group of friends apart, and for what? Some silly, idealistic fantasy?

Maybe she should have never left Lyoko, never remembered her past. Should have encouraged Jeremie to turn off the supercomputer as soon as they realized something as dangerous as X.A.N.A lived there with her-

Her phone vibrates, in her hand. She doesn't remember pulling it from her pocket, doesn't remember it being quite so dark in her dorm.

It buzzes again. She slips her phone open, holds it to her ear.

“Hello?” Her voice feels like paper-thin glass, ready to break at any moment at the simple drop of a hat.

“Hey Aelita, it's Yumi. You wouldn't happen to know why everybody else seems to be sulking, would you?”

“Oh, well. Yes,” Is all she can get herself to say.

“Care to explain?” Yumi has an amused lilt to her voice, like it's something trivial, something that'll blow over by tomorrow. Aelita scrubs at her face with a sleeve-covered hand.

“I-its uh, a li-ittle hard to explain,” she can't hold back a small sob as she berates herself for letting her emotion leak into her words.

“Woah, wait, are _you_ okay? What's wrong? Want to talk about it?” Yumi’s concern cranks up a few notches, and Aelita finds herself biting her lip again.

Aelita’s about to nod before she realises that it would be pointless, so she clears her throat, takes in a deep breath, then another, and a third. “It's. A lot” Her voice cooperates, which in turn calms her slightly.

“Want to come over and make a night of it? We don't even have to talk about it if you don't want to.”

Aelita manages a little laugh, surprising herself. “I’d like that. Would it be okay with your parents?”

“Are you kidding? My folks love you, and even if they didn't, I can't just let you be miserable all alone!”

The gratefulness she feels for Yumi overpowers the negative emotions just a bit, enough that she feels she can compose herself enough to get to Yumi’s

“Thanks, Yumi. I’ll be over in a bit.”

They say their goodbyes, hang up; she swings her bag back over her shoulder - it had fallen off of her when she crumbled to the floor - and heads out.

She makes sure that no one - other students, Jim - sees her sneaking down the stairs and out into the crisp night air.

It feels nice in her lungs, prickly along her throat, but in a pleasant way. It's something else to focus on, rather than her own emotions crashing around under her skin.

She takes her time picking her way through the park, letting herself get lost in the goosebumps that rise on her skin, the way her nose and ears and fingers are chilled until it's hard to ignore the feeling.

By the time she makes it to Yumi’s, she's wishing she had brought a jacket. Yumi’s mom answers the door, surprised to see Aelita but no less inviting as she ushers her inside, calling upstairs to Yumi that she has company.

Yumi rushes down the stairs, a hesitant smile on her face as she tries to read Aelita’s mood.

“Welcome to my house,” she says with an overdramatic flourish, and her smile grows when Aelita laughs, falling only slightly when she really takes a look at Aelita, “woah, you look cold! Come here, let's make some hot chocolate, shall we?”

“Hot chocolate sounds lovely,” Aelita agrees with a smile of her own, following Yumi to the kitchen while she preps two mugs.

They talk idly about the day - things that didn't go as expected in classes. Yumi hands Aelita a mug - with plenty of marshmallows - and they head up to her room.

Once the door closes, Aelita’s shoulders sag, and she curls around her mug, staring into it like it'll give her the answer to solve all of this.

“So,” Yumi starts, just this side of awkward, “want to talk? Or would you rather be distracted?”

“I think it would be better to talk,” Aelita’s voice is soft, “since it concerns you, too. Considering that it's my fault our friends are all upset.”

“Woah, hold up. I think you should start from the beginning,” Yumi says as she takes a seat on her bed, patting the empty space next to her.

Aelita takes the hint, and the seat, cradling the mug in her hands as she rests her arms on her knees. Yumi sets her mug down, and Aelita starts.

“I told them that I loved them all - romantically,” she adds in quickly, to snuff out any confusion before it can arise.

“Oh,” Yumi says.

“They didn't take it too well,” Aelita takes a sip, nearly burns her tongue, and decides to wait a bit longer before enjoying her drink. “They only seemed shocked at first, which would be expected, but then they- they looked angry and repulsed by the notion. They yelled at each other.” Her voice is nearly a whisper.

Yumi places a blanket around Aelita’s shoulders, lightly patting her back. “Rough night,” is all she offers, and Aelita understands that words are hard to find.

“That's why I asked you and Ulrich what I did a while ago - first I asked Jeremie how someone would choose between multiple people if they loved them all, and he said it was a matter of the strength of the existing bond - but I'm so close to all of you. So I asked Odd what it felt like to be in love, since he's gone out with so many people, and the way he described love was what I was feeling. So I asked you and Ulrich-”

“-If you could date multiple people and keep everyone happy,” Yumi puts the pieces together, and Aelita nods.

“And you two thought it was possible, so I figured that maybe this can work. But,” she just sighs and tries another sip, judging the hot chocolate warm, but not unbearably so, and drinks some more. Yumi has picked her own mug back up.

“And now they're all mad at each other and I may have ruined their friendships for good.”

“Hey, you can't know that,” Yumi’s free hand rubs circles into Aelita’s back, the sensation softened by the blanket, “I bet they're all just really confused and don't know what to do or think, so they're being all moody rather than actually working things out.”

“You think?” Aelita asks, looking at Yumi out of the corner of her eye, expression open, hopeful.

“Yeah, they've just got to sort things out in their own ways,” Yumi concludes, with a definitive nod.

“What about you?” Aelita says, and Yumi’s hand slows.

“What about me?” Yumi asks, genuinely confused and oh no, Aelita realizes she didn't clarify everything, huh?

“Ah, well. The boys aren't the only ones I feel this way for.” She closes her eyes and finishes off her drink, and she hears Yumi nearly choke mid sip.

“O-oh,” the word sounds more forced than it had before, her hand nearly still before she remembers what she was doing and resumes the comforting backrub. Yumi takes some more sips, and to Aelita, it feels like stalling, like Yumi is trying to buy some time so she can form a coherent thought.

“Yeah. I know before you talked in hypotheticals - there's got to be some people out there who would be okay with the arrangement - but are _you_ one of those people? Do you think any of the boys would be?” Her chest is aching, and maybe seeking comfort from a crush for a confession wasn't a good idea, either. She's full of good ideas today.

“I- well. I'm not sure.” Yumi says, eyes fixed on the wall ahead.

Aelita lets out a humorless laugh, “I ask that, with the assumption that you would even date someone like me.” She doesn't say ‘girls’, wanting to avoid that particular rabbit hole if Yumi’s honestly never thought about it.

“Forget about my situation,” Aelita says, and Yumi looks ready to protest, “if you knew they both would be okay with it, would you date Ulrich _and_ William?”

Yumi’s silent, after such a loaded question.

Here's Aelita - who just confessed that she not only doesn't think relationships as ‘one and only’, who just confessed that her crushes aren't _solely_ on boys, but who just confessed that she asked out a boy who she _knows_ her friend likes, too - and then she pries into her friend's messy love life.

She bites her tongue - a little too late - and holds her breath.

By the time her lungs burn for air and she gives them what they need, Yumi still has yet to speak. Aelita feels tears stinging at her eyes once again.

She can't help the noise that comes from her, some kind of horrible mix of a sob and a laugh,  and she stands up, the blanket falling from her shoulders, Yumi’s arm falling away with it.

“Perhaps I should have just gone for a distraction,” and she's nearly out the door before she says, “thanks for trying to comfort me. I'm sorry.”

She quickly stops by the kitchen to drop off her mug in the sink, tells Mrs. Ishiyama a rushed goodbye and a lame excuse and is out the door, running back towards campus.

She detours halfway back, her legs carrying her to the Ermitage, and they don't stop until her old bed is under her, letting it catch her.

Her phone buzzes. She shoves it in her bag.

She doesn't really want to be yelled at right now, or questioned, or- or-

She just. Wishes she could do a return to the past and never bring up such a stupid idea in the first place.


	3. It's so Hard to Be All Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some try to think about what they were told, some don't. One tries to wish that things could be undone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tentative chapter number for now. May change, depends, I'm still mid-story.
> 
> I started watching Evo and, boy,,

He kicks his shoes off, and one flies across the room, stopped mid flight by the chair where it crashes back down to the floor.

“Stupid Jeremie… stupid Aelita,” Odd mutters, pacing his room, Kiwi on his bed, head cocked, but ears back.

“What the hell even was that!” He turns to Kiwi, as if he'll have the answer. The dog hesitantly wags his tail, head tilting more.

He huffs, trying to hold onto the anger in him, but the longer he tries, the more irrational it feels. Not towards Jeremie - that's  _ completely _ justified - but the anger at Aelita.

She's just confused is all, Odd decides. There's no way she loves all of them - spending so much time in the supercomputer must have done some mumbo jumbo to her brain.

Sure,  _ he's  _ fallen for multiple girls at once, but it never works out! Plus, he's a casanova, it's practically in his  _ jeans - genes _ , says a voice in his brain that sounds suspiciously like Jeremie, and he angrily shakes his head, expelling the thought. Mr. Four Eyes isn't welcome here.

Anyways, Aelita must be _ crazy  _ to think she could date three people at once! Ulrich  _ obviously  _ has the hots for Yumi, and Jeremie is too jealous and overprotective to share her - if they were dating, that is, which is a thought that surprises Odd a little.

He sits down on his bed, and Kiwi perks up, climbing half onto Odd’s lap, who automatically starts scratching him behind the ears.

He honestly would have bet money that Jeremie and Aelita were dating already. Or, at least, that they would be soon. They're even worse than Ulrich and Yumi!

But would Odd date her? That is, if there would be no negative consequences that would affect the group?

She's cute, no doubt, and with such a sassy side, it's a perfect combo. She's sweet, funny, smart, but not too much that she's no fun.

Odd could see, in different circumstances, that he would date her. But, as things stand now, Jeremie kind of has a monopoly on Aelita, and it's obvious they like each other.

Except. She likes Odd  _ too. _

He groans and falls back against the wall, earning a surprised yelp from Kiwi at the noise. The dog climbs fully into his lap and places his front paws on Odd's chest, licking his face.

“At least you're easy to understand, my little diggity dog,”

\----

“What is she  _ thinking _ ?” He mutters, head in his hands.  “I thought she liked  _ me. _ ”

_ She does,  _ says some rational part of his brain,  _ she just happens to like Odd and Ulrich too. _

“Am I… not  _ good  _ enough for her? Don't I make her happy?”

_ Not happy enough, _ chips in a more traitorous thought, and with a sigh his head falls, landing on his arms.

I  _ found her,  _ I  _ was the one who spent countless late nights trying to get her to Earth,  _ I  _ was the one she seemed to  _ like  _ the best! I'm always the one making sure she's okay, comfortable. _

_ But, you're no longer enough. _

Jeremie forces himself to straighten up, shake his head, blank his mind, and numbly get back to work on the robot's programming

\--

He pulls his jacket tighter around him, hunkering down more against the tree trunk. He's found himself a nice little hideaway between two gnarled roots that come up out of the grass, forming a nook that keeps out the wind.

Not much the tree can do about the cold, however.

Ulrich’s pulling up the grass nearby, first by the handful, but then as his thoughts become easier to sift through, one blade at a time, spaced out as he rips each one into multiple, smaller pieces.

He wishes there was a rock nearby he could throw, it would be a lot more satisfying, but he'll have to settle for the grass, or peeling the bark off the tree.

_ What just happened,  _ he thinks, his mind still kind of reeling. It almost feels like a dream. Like it didn't even happen, not really. But the bite of the air, the burning of his lungs from running out here, the ache in his ankle when he stumbled and landed on it weird - those are telling him just the opposite.

_ Aelita _ ? Liking  _ him _ ? What is  _ with _ that?

It doesn't make any sense! Or, rather. He wishes it didn't.

Sure, girls like him because he's good at sports, and good looking or whatever, but that's  _ other  _ girls, not his friends! They know he's, well-

That he's someone who hides in the trees of the park to sulk, who is grouchy and irritable and hard to get along with.

~~_ Yet he expects Yumi to- _ ~~

Yet Aelita still likes him, knowing all of that.

He doesn't  _ get  _ it, why him? She has Jeremie, basically, and they seem happy enough together.

And Odd? She must be sick or something. Or confused. She's probably mixing up friendship and love.

Besides, Ulrich couldn't date Aelita, he's waiting for-

Well-

He's waiting for _ someone, _ but he doesn't know if she'll ever be ready - she sure wasn't back when X.A.N.A. was still around.

_ If Aelita could date multiple people, then why not you,  _ a thought provides, and okay, that's enough thinking for one night, he's getting a bit out of it.

Maybe talking to Odd will help clear things up, he decides, ripping one more blade of grass in half as he stands up, and heads back to the dorms.

\---

She realizes a little too late that maybe she should have stopped Aelita from running from the house.

It's just - she's a little  _ confused _ , is all.

It's not everyday that a good buddy admits they have feelings for you - especially a buddy who happens to be the same gender as you.

Yumi doesn't even like girls like that, or, well - no, she can't! She likes Ul-boys! Yeah! She's never thought of girls like she thinks of boys.

Besides, with the whole thing with her and Ulrich and William, she's got a full plate.

_ If you could date both,  _ a stray though starts and she  _ forces  _ herself to think of something else, letting her worry for Aelita smother that train of thought.

_ If you could date all three,  _ it tries again, and yeah okay this is ridiculous. She reaches for her phone and tries to call Aelita, but it goes to voicemail.

“Hey, Aelita, its Yumi, I'm sorry for, well, ignoring you there. I still don't really know what to think about what you said, but I'll try to come up with something.  I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Message me when you get this,” she pauses for a second, debating on whether or not to say goodbye, before she closes her phone with small click.

She sighs, trying to make herself get up, do  _ something  _ \- she's not sure if she should try to follow Aelita (her parents would probably question that) or contact one of the others (and hope they answer this time).

These conflicting feelings wage war as she continues to sit on the edge of her bed, doing nothing, until she realizes her eyelids feel heavy and oh man it's late. Luckily tomorrow's Sunday - no school - but still, if this chaos is going on in the friend group, she wants to be well rested when dealing with it.

\---

She doesn't know how long she stays in that old, run down house, but it's long enough that the goosebumps along her skin are impossible to ignore. The one thing she does know is she has to get back to the dorms eventually.

The bed creaks ominously as she stands, vehemently averts her gaze from window, the hole in the wall where Mr. Puck was, closing her eyes at any memories that try and manifest in her vision.

The walk back is wholly uneventful, her thoughts leaving her alone as she picks her way through the park. She's nearly in the dormitory building when -

“Ms. Stones.” There's a stern voice behind her. Startled, her shoulders hitch up to her ears, muscles tense, her stance dropping just a tad, ready to knock someone out if she must - though, she hasn't had to for a while; old habits die hard. “What are you doing up at this hour?”

She turns, meeting Jim's eyes, as her brain frantically tries to come up with a logical excuse.

“Ah, well, what are you doing up?” Too bad today doesn't seem to be her day at all, maybe not even her week.

“Well, I thought I heard a ruckus out here and-” he catches himself- “and it's none of your business.”

She offers a sheepish smile, “I don't mean to pry, Jim, I thought I heard something too,” she tries to go for the easy out.

He squints at her, “and so you left your dorm, where you should have been asleep-”  _ oh, right, she's not even in her pajamas- _ “with your bag to, what, whap whatever was making the noise upside the head?”

_ There's no real way out of this, is there, he's too suspicious, _ “well, uh, yes?”

He frowns, and she can't help but shiver, remembering just how cold she is. Jim takes note.

“Detention. Tomorrow. Now go to your dorm and  _ stay there, _ ” he crosses his arms, and she nods, hurrying inside and back to her room.

She quickly changes into her night clothes and slips under the blanket, curling into a ball so she can warm back up, holding Mr. Puck close.

\---

“Odd, turn that down, I can hear it halfway down the hall,” Ulrich complains as he steps into the room. Odd is slumped against the wall, sitting on his bed, neck craned in what is surely an uncomfortable position, chin on his chest.

“You're up,” Odd says, eyes landing on Ulrich, who groans and turns the music off completely.

“Hey-”

“That was a terrible song, anyways.” Ulrich makes his way to his own bed, toeing his shoes off.

“Doesn't mean you had to turn it off!”

“Hey, Odd?” Ulrich ignores Odd’s attempts at conversation, distraction more accurately.

Odd’s eyes narrow. “Yeah?”

“I still don't know what to even make of this,” he's staring off into the distance, not offering any clarification, though it really isn't needed.

Odd sighs, “yeah, me neither. Why would she even like us!” There's a beat. “Uh, well, no offense.”

“None taken,” Ulrich says honestly, unable to figure it out himself. “Though, I guess it's more likely that she'd like you.”

Odd barks out a laugh, causing Kiwi to shift in his sleep. Quieter, he says, “And why's that? You're the big football guy, MVP of the team.”

“I mean, I guess, but you're actually  _ likeable. _ You tell jokes, and sometimes they're funny-”

“Wait, did you just call me  _ funny _ -”

“You don't let small things upset you, not as much as I do-”

“Can we go back to the ‘I tell good jokes’ part-”

“And you're athletic too, with all your skateboarding tricks you can do.”

“Funny?” Odd says again, and just receives a look from Ulrich. Odd huffs playfully, “Okay okay, fine. But don't discredit yourself, either! When you aren't sulking you're fun to be around! Plus, you're good looking, so it's not like you're driving girls  _ away _ .”

Ulrich laughs, shakes his head. “Once girls get to know me, I do.”

“You haven't driven Yumi or Aelita off yet,” Odd provides helpfully.

Ulrich decides to ignore what Odd's implying. “I don't understand why."

Odd rolls his eyes. “Good. Looking. Do I have to spell it out for you?”

“Hey, you aren't too bad yourself, so why would anyone choose  _ both _ of us instead of just you?”

“I think the supercomputer did some weird stuff to her brain”

“If that's true, wouldn't it have messed up our brains too?”

“No- well, yes- maybe?”

“Maybe she's just not used to having friends, and is confused about what her feelings are?”

“See, I was thinking that too, but your comment about her asking the weird question reminded me she asked me one  _ too- _ about how it felt to be in love. I think she thought the same thing, but decided it wasn't friendship.”

“Huh,” is all Ulrich says in turn, running a hand through his hair.

“Would you date her?” Odd asks, and the question startles Ulrich.

“Wh- no! Why-”

“I was thinking about it and, if nothing bad would come of it, I think I would.  Just- not if it was gonna tear our group apart.” Odd’s eyes are closed.

Ulrich pauses, lets himself think about the question, even as thoughts rise up from before, he lets himself  _ think  _ about them.

Would he date Aelita? And Yumi? They're different than each other, but in a way that compliments the other. He's never thought about Aelita in that way before, but she is nice.

He guesses, if they were okay with it, he may try it out - and if Odd and Jeremie were also okay with it.

“Maybe I would too,” is all he says to Odd.


	4. I'll Try to Love Them, the Best Way That I Can

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Discussions are had. Conclusions are reached

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This turned out a bit differently than I expected, and it seemed to resolve quickly but it's how the story wanted to be - if the second section had been longer this would have had five chapters, but it was so short I put it here instead.

Yumi comes across Odd and Ulrich, on the benches they've claimed, Jeremie and Aelita nowhere in sight. 

“Hey,” she greets with a small wave. Both only give a weak wave back. “Well, aren't we lively today. This about Aelita?”

“Huh? How'd you know?” Ulrich asks, perking up a bit, alongside Odd.

“I tried contacting all of you last night and she was the only one to respond. She sounded like she was crying.” The boys each make their own comments about how dumb they are or how they didn't even think to check in on her. “So I invited her over and she told me everything. It's - it's a lot to think about.”

The others have made room for her on the bench, so she takes a seat.

“Yeah, it's quite the problem. Einstein's mad at us,” Odd says with a flippant hand motion.

“And the moment he learned that she doesn't like  _ only _ him, he flipped and yelled at us,” Ulrich adds.

“Well then, I'm sorry you had to deal with that, but I'm a little glad I wasn't there to witness it firsthand.”

“Ah, he wouldn't have gotten angry at you,” Odd dismisses.

“And why not? Aelita said she liked me like that too,” Yumi comments quietly, having looked around for any stray student in earshot.

“She did?” Ulrich puts a hand on her shoulder, to look her in the eye, checking if she's playing some sort of dumb joke.

Odd slaps his forehead with an open palm, “Aelita  _ did  _ mention you!” He rubs his face like the problem is just something he can scrub away.

“Oh, well. That may complicate things further,” Ulrich says, resting his head in his hand, elbow on his knee as he stares into the distance.

“How so?” She thinks she may know, but would rather one of them confirm it for her.

“Well, Jeremie probably won't want to talk to any of us,” Ulrich frowns.

“It's more competition for him,” Odd adds, leaning back and bouncing his leg.

“Even if we don't want to compete,” Yumi finishes.

“Aww, you don't want to?” Odd jokes, trying to lighten the situation some, “it'd be pretty fun to beat you two.”

“Yeah right. Besides, there's nothing to compete  _ for,  _ she already-” Ulrich cuts himself off, but the others understand.

“What a mess,” is all Yumi says to that.

“A mess indeed,” someone says, approaching them. Sissi walks over and leans against the bench.

“Were you eavesdropping?” Odd accuses, but Sissi shakes her head.

“No, I just caught that last comment. I came to tell you three I saw Jim taking Aelita to the library, talking about breaking curfew. Do you know what that's about?”

“Oh, no, I invited her over last night and completely forgot about curfew! She must've gotten caught on her way back,” Yumi says vaguely, enough to sate Sissi’s curiosity.

“Poor Aelita, getting detention. By the way, where's Jeremie?” Sissi can be too observant; then again, they're rarely without each other.

“He's-”

“-sleeping!” Odd interrupts Ulrich, and Sissi gives them both a look, one eyebrow quirked, “He was workin’ on robot stuff and stayed up  _ way  _ too late.”

“What a dork,” Sissi remarks, “he needs to take better care of himself.”

“You're telling us,” Yumi says, worrying over Aelita and Jeremie. At least Aelita got back to campus okay. She stands up. “Speaking of Einstein, I'll go check on him. Make sure he's not still trying to work on that stuff.” Yumi gives the boys a pointed look, letting them in on the slight bluff - she wants to check in on Jeremie to see how he's doing after last night, and she doubts he'd talk to any of the others.

Odd waggles his hand at her. “If he's back at the robot stuff, give him a good scolding from me!”

She nods, waves goodbye and heads off, watching as Sissi takes her spot on the bench and keeps talking with the other two.

 

Yumi finds Jeremie passed out at his computer, face luckily not on his keyboard, typing a long string of garbage into his code, though he will have a large red mark on his forehead from where it's pressed against his desk.

She puts a hand on his shoulder, shakes him gently. “Rise and shine, Jeremie.”

He jerks upright, glasses askew, eyes unfocused. “Huh? Wha?”

“You fell asleep at your desk,” Yumi provides, motioning to the fact he's still in his chair.

He blinks a few times, then rubs at his eyes, seemingly lucid enough now to glance between his computer, Yumi, and his clock. “Oh.”

She laughs a little. “Yeah, ‘oh’. Were you working on your code all night?”

Jeremie nods; Odd guessed right, with his little white lie. “Yeah, I'm just working on the basic movement programs - with the wheels, the flexible extremities, the rudder for quick changes in direction…” he trails off, examining his own code to figure out where he left off.

“Well, that's cool and all, but you don't need to be overworking yourself when the deadline’s so far away. C'mon, you should get lunch before they stop serving it.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I just want to figure out where I was going with these commands,” he leans closer to the screen.

She waves her hand in front of his face, “You'll keep saying that until it's after dinner; you should take a break now. The program will be here when you get back.”

He stands up, starts towards the door, when something like realization flashes across his face. Instead of heading into the hall, he falls into a sitting position on his bed, as if his legs simply stopped working.

“Woah, you okay?” Yumi has approached him, arms held out in case he falls over more.

“Yes - well, actually no. There was this whole thing last night…” he trails off.

Yumi has a split second decision to make. “What happened?” She knows if he finds out that she knew all along she'll be on his bad side, but she feels that it's better for him to try and put it into words for someone else rather than being suspicious of all his friends.  Aelita _ had  _ mentioned her last night, and while the other two had forgotten, Jeremie might not have.

“It has to do with Aelita. I thought she liked me.” His head is in his hands.

“She said she didn't?” Yumi says before she can think of something better - she hopes she doesn't sound  _ too  _ disbelieving; she's not supposed to know what went on.

“Ah, well, no, not that. She said she liked Odd and Ulrich too!” He sounds surprised, a little sad, a little annoyed.

“Well, we are all friends-”

“No, she said that she  _ liked  _ us, as in, a relationship. Dating! All of us!”

“Oh,” she tries to channel her confusion from the night before.

“I'm just not good enough for her-”

“Hey,” she interrupts, before he can get too down on himself, “you said she liked all of you. That  _ includes  _ you, so don't start with the woe-is-me stuff. She sees the worth in you, and so do the rest of us.”

“But if I  _ was  _ enough, then she wouldn't think she'd need to date two other people!” Yumi’s surprised by how blunt he's being about this stuff, no blushing or stuttering; his distress over the situation must be overriding any embarrassment.

“Look, she may just be a little confused, is all,” Yumi voices her own thought that's been brewing since she woke up, “or maybe it's something else, but shutting yourself in your room and refusing to acknowledge it isn't going to get you, or her, anywhere!”

He looks guilty, perhaps finally feeling bad for turning on two of his best friends.

“Yeah...I guess you're right,” he concedes. “I should probably apologize to her. And the others.”

“Well, you'll have to wait on that first part; Aelita’s under Jim's watch for a few hours. Sissi says Aelita got detention.”

“What? Oh no, I hope she's doing alright. Do you know why?”

“It has something to do with breaking curfew,” is all Yumi provides, not wanting to lie, just avoid the truth.

Jeremie rubs his face with the sleeves of his sweater, and when he's done Yumi offers a hand and helps him up, walking with him to the cafeteria. The others are standing a ways off, and before Jeremie heads in to get his food he gives a tentative wave, Yumi following suit with a more sure gesture. Odd and Ulrich seem surprised, but reciprocate nonetheless.

Jeremie goes in alone, Yumi having already eaten, while Yumi rejoins the other two.

“He seems better today,” Odd notes, a lightness to his voice - hope, Yumi assumes.

“Yeah, he was still pretty messed up about it but I gave him a little pep talk. Don't know if he's  _ okay  _ with everything, but he's at least no longer angry.”

“Hopefully he'll stay like that then,” Ulrich says, “I'd prefer not to be yelled at again.” Odd nods in agreement.

\---

After she has served her time, Aelita doesn't quite know what to do. None of her friends seem like they want to talk to her - she listened to Yumi’s voicemail, but that was this morning and it didn't feel right to reply back so long after she got the call.

She's idling outside the library, spacing out as her mind is flooded by thoughts of her friends, when a light hand on her shoulder makes her regain her senses.

“Aelita, are you alright?” William's voice cuts through her thoughts. His inflection indicates this isn't the first time he asked that particular question.

“Ah, well,” she means to elaborate, but doesn't,  and William pats her shoulder a few times, comfortingly.

“Yeah, I get that. You need anything? I know you guys don't really want me around, but I'd like to help if I can.”

She shrugs, “I'm not sure how you could help. And,” she rushes to say, “don't say things like that. I guess I can't speak for the others, but I like having you around. It's not your fault, being used by X.A.N.A. like that…”

They share a knowing moment of silence, neither daring to even breathe too loudly. He tightens his grip on her shoulder just slightly, and she reaches up to pat his hand in what she hopes is a comforting way.

“Want to talk it out?” William asks, and she nearly says no, thinking about how well that went with Yumi last night, but-

But he isn't part of the issue, and since he's a Lyoko Warrior as well, he's probably the one she trusts most, outside of the others.

She nods, and he offers a small smile, pulling his other hand out of his pocket to point towards the dorms - and she nods again.

The pair head off towards the dormitories, in a somewhat stifling silence.

It has been some time since she's properly interacted with William; school and friends and her silly crushes getting in the way of anything else, not to mention the slump she, as well as the others, fell in for a while after the super computer was turned off.

She still thinks about her dad, but not as much as she had right after their last mission. That's  a whole other thing that she doesn't want to deal with now, not with more immediate issues at hand.

She had fallen in step with William, who took the initiative and led her to his room. It's a bit of a mess, but she doesn't mind in the slightest, setting herself down at the foot of his bed, leaning against the wall.

He falls heavily into his desk chair, wheeling back a little with the force. She has taken off her shoes, hugging her legs to her chest, chin on her knees.

William isn't actually looking at her, slouched in the chair, head back, eyes on the ceiling. It's comforting, in a way, to not be the center of attention.

“Well, I realized some time ago that I have crushes on the other four,” she starts, closing her eyes, “and yesterday I finally told them about it.” She goes on to explain what happened - the boys’ reactions, Yumi’s reaction, how it all started and her worries over ruining everything - while curling in on herself more as she speaks.

There's a bit of silence, after she's done, but it doesn't feel stifling.

“If they can't accept you for who you are,” he starts, “then maybe they aren't really your friends.”

She makes a noise in protest, words failing her, but he holds up a hand, not done with his train of thought.

“This is who you  _ are _ , someone who can love four people at once. They don't have to go along with it, they do have their  _ own  _ feelings, but if they can't get over the facts that you would like to date multiple people, and not care about the gender of those people, then they don't really support you. And friends who don't support you aren't really friends - at least, not close friends.” There's an edge to his voice, a frown on his face, a ridgedness to his muscles.

She wonders if he's speaking from experience - not the crush thing, but the unsupportive friends thing. He has been to many schools, and seems like more of a loner than not.

Something in her chest aches for William, feeling bad for this boy who hasn't really had close friends, who thought he found people who would care about him, only to be shunned after losing months to some sentient, evil virus.

She has the sudden need to comfort  _ him, _ even though he is the one helping her right now.

She takes a deep breath. “What if. If they don't accept me?”

He doesn't answer right away, and she catches herself biting at her nails and makes herself stop. He seems to be giving it ample thought, which she appreciates.

“I know it would be pretty hard on you, considering they're your connection to the world now - fake ID and all - but at that point it might be time to just. Move on from them. Find people who like you for who you are, not just what you are or what you've done.”

It seems so horrible to her - she couldn't begin to imagine life without the others. She just hopes it won't come to that, so she won't have to settle on any course of action. She nods, blinking back tears as she tries to keep herself from imagining that worst possible scenario and fails. The chair creaks as William stands up, approaches slightly with his hands raised like he wants to comfort her, but doesn't know if it’s okay, or really even how to begin comforting her.

It feels childish to hold her arms out, but he closes in and gives her a solid hug - a grounding hug - and she hugs back just as tight as she fights to keep herself composed.

He's patting her back by the time they end the embrace, stopping when they move away, but keeping his hands near her shoulders just in case.

She gives him a smile.

“Thanks, William. For everything.”

“Yeah, it's really no problem.” He starts some other conversation, but her lack of patience must be quite obvious, because he waves it off and tells her to get going and to see her friends.

Before she closes his door, he says, “let me know how it goes,” and she vows to keep in contact with him. He's nice, and doesn't deserve the cold shoulders the others are giving him. 

 

She comes across Sissi first.

“Oh, you're free,” Sissi observes, and Aelita offers a small smile.

“Yes, I served my time,” she hunches her shoulders sheepishly. Sissi reaches out and pats her arm, mentioning the others seemed to be acting a little weird and she couldn't figure out why. Aelita tells her that there had been a little argument last night, and that she would go try to settle it.

Sissi accepts that, wishes her luck and waves as Aelita heads off, towards where Sissi said she saw the others last.

They're at the benches, idling as if they were waiting for her. Her stomach feels tight, her pace slows; there's a split second instinct to run, to avoid this coming conversation at all costs, but it goes as quick as it appeared.

Instead, she lets herself feel relief, happy that the others seem to be getting along well enough now that they're near each other. Even if the uniting force is their anger or disgust or other negative feeling towards her.

Yumi looks over, sees her, and smiles, and Aelita thinks her heart stops for a moment. Yumi turns to the others, says something Aelita can't hear, and now everyone's eyes are on her, they all look happy, relieved - Ulrich waves, Odd jumps up off the bench, and Jeremie perks up.

The hope swells back up in her chest, before she can even think to tamp it down, and it has her smiling so wide, feeling so light she thinks she may float away. It's that feeling that carries her forward, just in front of the bench, one hand holding the other in front of her, tight, taking the tension in her so her face doesn't show it.

“Hey,” she says lamely, and she opens her mouth to say more, but nothing comes. She swallows, tries again, before Ulrich stands up next to Odd.

“Want to do this somewhere less… public?” he asks, glancing around, and Aelita nods.

“Yes. That's a good idea.” The rest get to their feet and head towards the dorms. Aelita’s in the front, and she automatically walks to her own room, the others in tow.

She sits on her bed, and the others stand in a loose semicircle in front of her.

“Can I start?” Jeremie asks, a bit of a waver in his voice, rubbing one arm. Aelita is a bit startled - she thought she would have to do most of the talking - but she nods. Jeremie clears his throat just a bit, “I want to apologize, for the way I acted last night. It wasn't fair to anyone for me to yell like that. Aelita was trusting us with her feelings, and you two were just as shocked as I was.”

Odd slaps Jeremies back playfully, though he does get a mostly startled, slightly pained yelp. “Ah, we were all a bit stupid. Glad you could join Ulrich and me at our level.”

Ulrich protests, but he's laughing. Yumi’s smiling fondly at the boys.

“Apologies aside,” Yumi says, then pauses, waiting for the others to calm a bit, “we have all been thinking about what you said.”

“Alone at first,” Odd chips in, “but that wasn't really getting us anywhere.”

“So, we talked while you had detention, tried to sort out our feelings and thoughts,” Ulrich continues.

“And we think we've reached a conclusion,” Jeremie finishes.

“Oh, you have?” Aelita’s surprised.

“Yeah,” Yumi cuts back in, “and, well. We think we'd want to try it.” A momentary pause, “The, uh, the dating you thing.”

“We dunno if it'll work out in the end,” Odd says, gets an elbow in the side from Ulrich, “but! You make us happy,  and we seem to make you happy. So… why not? If it works, then it works, if it doesn't, we're all still friends!”

“I think it will take a while for me to get used to,” Jeremie admits, “but I'll try my best. When you love someone, you want nothing else but for them to be happy.” Jeremie freezes once he realizes what he said, face quickly reddening.

“Though,” Ulrich interjects, “we do think that keeping this… quiet would be best. We wouldn't want any dumb rumors going around, or any negative attention from it.” He's specifically looking at Yumi, before he turns to Aelita. “Is… that okay?”

Aelita is a bit stunned, idle for a few moments, before she breaks out into the widest smile she thinks she’s ever had, letting out a wordless exclamation of joy before attempting to pull them all into a group hug.

It's imperfect, but it’s them, her friends, her  _ best  _ friends, and there's the beginnings of laughter, their arms encircling her and if she could live in this moment forever, she thinks she'd be perfectly okay with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! For this fic, at least. I'm not sure if I'll get the motivation to write more - the other 4 realizing they are Also poly, and then finally the inclusions of William, but at least this particular fic is done. I hate leaving fics unfinished but it's what always happens. But not today!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos make my day, comments make my year~


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